On this page
Before the first morning
Most of what makes a first day go well happens before it. The goal is simple: by the time the real morning arrives, as little as possible is genuinely new.
- A practice walk-through. Visit when the building is quiet. Walk the real route — entrance, hallway, classroom, where the coat goes. Twice is better than once.
- Photos of what is coming. The entrance, the classroom, the teacher if they are willing. A small photo book, or photos on your phone, reviewed a few times over the preceding week, takes the surprise out of the first morning.
- A visual schedule for the new day. Pictures in order: backpack, car, school, teacher, pickup. Knowing what comes after school matters as much as what comes before — the schedule should end at home.
- Rehearse the pieces. Packing the backpack, putting on shoes at the same time, the goodbye you plan to use at drop-off. Keep the goodbye short and the same every time.
Keep the rest of the week boring, in the best way. A new school is enough change on its own.
Handing over what works
The new teacher does not need everything you know — they need one page of it.
What calms your child down, and what winds them up. What motivates them. The early signs that a hard moment is coming. The exact words or signs that work. What your child can do independently, so nobody helps too much or too little.
Hand it over in a short conversation, not a binder. One page gets read; a binder gets filed. If your child has an ABA team, ask about connecting the therapist and the teacher directly — with your consent, a ten-minute conversation between them carries more than any document.
Then expect a wobble. New routines take a few weeks to become routines, and a hard first week is not a sign the school is wrong. If you are not sure what a handover page should say, what to expect with ABA therapy covers how goals and strategies get written down in the first place.
